UDC 536.25

P. M. Patil

EFFECTS OF FREE CONVECTION ON THE OSCILLATORY FLOW
OF A POLAR FLUID THROUGH A POROUS MEDIUM
IN PRESENCE OF VARIABLE WALL HEAT FLUX

The objective of the work is to study a laminar two-dimensional 
free convective oscillatory flow of an incompressible polar fluid 
through a saturated porous medium occupying a semi-infinite region 
of the space which is bounded by an infinite vertical permeable plate 
in the presence of oscillating suction and variable wall heat flux. 
The governing equations are based on the local volume averaging technique. 
The generalized Darcy equation accounting for polar effects is employed. 
Analytical expressions for the linear momentum, angular momentum, 
and energy fields are obtained by using the two-term perturbation 
technique. The numerically computed results are shown graphically 
and compared with the corresponding ones for a viscous (Newtonian) 
fluid. Distribution of the mean velocity of a polar fluid is found 
to increase as compared to the Newtonian fluid. The analysis reveals 
multiple boundary-layer structure for velocity.

Department of Mathematics, J. S. S. College of Science, 
Vidyagiri, Dharwad-580 004, Karnataka, India; email: 
dr_pmpatil@yahoo.co.in. Original article submitted 
September 9, 2007; revision submitted January 11, 2008.